The spooks and frights of Halloween are all in good fun, but no one likes to be scared by the holiday’s price tag.
The National Retail Federation expects the average shopper to spend about $80 this year for Halloween.
But there are ways to cut those costs while still having a good time.
Whether you want to be a pretty princess like Reynalda Verdoza’s granddaughter.
"Save yourself a lot of money, like more than 75%,” Verdoza said, who was shopping for Halloween costumes at the Goodwill.
Or you want to add some character while you’re at work.
"Where I work, we dress up for Halloween, Christmas and stuff like that and I usually find some pretty good deals,” said Joyce Hill, who was shopping for a costume.
Halloween shopping at the Goodwill can take the fright out of paying for a costume.
"I have a lot of grandkids so I like to look at the stuff and see what I can get for them,” Verdoza said.
And Goodwill managers say they have something for everyone.
Donated costumes from the year before go out on the floor the next year.
Some used, some brand new, but everything is usually discounted compared to other retailers.
"Some of the items you can throw together for $4.95, $5, $6. You can probably put together a whole costume and get makeup and accessories for under $20,” said Ken Beurmann, Chief Operations Officer for the South Central California Goodwill Industries.
Making Halloween anything but scary for customers and the store.
Managers say the scary season typically brings about a 10% boost to sales and a 15% bump in customers, making October the best sales month of the year.
"People love to be creative. Sometimes they'll come in and buy a blazer for cheap and they'll throw together their own outfit, they'll create their own original outfit or they'll come in for a more typical costume,” Beurmann said.
And when a typical costume runs anywhere from $20 to hundreds of dollars, customers say the Goodwill is too good to pass up.
"I shop other places and they're pretty high and I think here you're getting a good deal,” Hill said.
Whether you shop at Goodwill or not, managers say if you donate your costume after Halloween, it does qualify as a charitable deduction on your taxes.
